We are following your recent news and it fills our hearts with immense joy. We would like to congratulate you for your victories and achievements.

Al-Shabab not only have succeeded in expanding the areas that fall under their rule but they have succeeded in implementing the sharia and giving us a living example of how we as Muslims should proceed to change our situation. The ballot has failed us but the bullet has not.

al-Shabab who are with limited resources in an impoverished country are a manifestation of what tawakul on Allah means. We see in them the meaning of “And whoever has taqwa, Allah will make a way out for him. And will provide for him from where he does not expect.” [al-Talaaq 2-3]

The university of the battlefield that al-Shabab have chosen to study at, which is teaching them lessons in honor and steadfastness will prove to be a better tarbiyyah method than the Islamic universities run by Green Zone Scholars under governments headed by pimps that teach them the fiqh of weakness and humiliation.

The university of Somalia will graduate an alumni of judges, administrators, enjoiners of good and forbiders of evil, capable and tested leaders, teachers, imams, and fighters who are hardened by the field and ready to carry on with no fear and hesitation. It will provide its graduates with the hands-on experience that the ummah greatly needs for its next stage.

But their success depends on your support. It is the responsibility of the ummah to help them with men and money.

Al-Shabab have already started a program of enforcement of law that would bring peace and security to the people. They are also applying hudud and fighting against innovations that have been around for centuries. We ask Allah to grant them success.

I would like to take this opportunity to advise my brothers to be kind and soft with the masses; to excuse them for centuries of ignorance and false beliefs; to teach first and hold responsible last. I would advise you to go by certainty and to leave doubts; to prefer forgiveness over revenge. The masses of the people are suffering from the illnesses of tribalism, ignorance, and a campaign of defamation of sharia. Therefore you need to win the hearts and minds of the people and take them back to their fitrah.

Dear brothers may Allah guide you and grant you victory. Only Allah knows that if my circumstances would have allowed I would not have hesitated in joining you and being a soldier in your ranks.

Assalamu alaykum
Your Brother
Anwar al-Awlaki

Al-Shabaab: Reply To The Advice And Greetings

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله

Reply to the Greeting and Advice of Sheikh Anwar

O beloved Sheikh Anwar,

We ask Allah to reward you for your encouragement and words of advice. Your words have reached us and, by the will of Allah, we will benefit from your recommendations. The enemies of Islam are increasing their efforts more and more these days and are directing more attention to the media battle and the battle for the “hearts and minds.” As we have seen even recently, they are continuously throwing accusations at those who want to live by the law of the Creator. For example, we can take the issue of the stoning of the woman in Kismayo. The disbelievers have falsely reported that she was 13 years old, unmarried, and was raped. The reality and truth is that she was over 20 years old, married, and was practicing adultery. This is just one example of how they twist the news, so we would like to take this opportunity to advise our brothers not to believe any news reported about us except from our official Media Department.

Sheikh, we look to you as one of the very few scholars who stand firm upon the truth and defend the honor of the Mujahideen and the Muslims by continuously uncovering the feeble plots of the enemies of Allah. Allah knows how many of the brothers and sisters have been affected by your work so we ask you to continue the important effort you are doing wherever you are and never to fear the blame of the blamers. Keep us in your invocations as you know this path is always full of trials and Allah tests those that He loves. We ask Allah to guide the Muslims and to open their eyes to the plots of their enemies and to give them the strength and success to hold firmly to the rope of Allah. We ask Allah to protect you and all of those who are standing for the truth. We ask Allah to join us together in this world and in the highest of Paradise. O Sheikh, we would not only look at you as only a soldier, but as the likes of Ibn Taymiya during the trials of the Ta’tars.

Your brothers from Shabab Al-Mujahidin.

_________________"The one who is (truly) imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah, and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him." Ibn Taymiyah